Functional corn was brought to the table. This database helped a lot

Functional corn was brought to the table. This database helped a lot

The team of Professor Yan Jianbing from Huazhong Agricultural University recently published a paper in the American "Interscience" magazine, saying that the third edition of the maize database (ZEAMAP) they created over 10 years is online. In addition to domestic scientists, foreign scientists can also use the data here for maize breeding. the study.

　　 Yan Jianbing said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from Science and Technology Daily that in previous corn research, Chinese scientists have long relied on the resources, data and technology of foreign counterparts, and now we can also export corn data resources in our country.

　　 Maize genetics and breeding research is inseparable from the database

Yan Jianbing introduced to reporters: "In the process of genetic breeding, it is often necessary to introduce genes that are not in maize, perform different permutations and combinations internally, and transfer good gene combinations to a new variety, so as to improve certain characteristics of maize. Make improvements."

　　 Since corn is the main source of feed, the meat, eggs and milk we need are mainly transformed from it, so the demand for corn in China has been increasing. The weight of corn in my country's agricultural production is also getting heavier. The planting area and total output have surpassed rice and wheat, ranking first. The importance of corn is self-evident, it is related to the country's food security.

　　ZEAMAP is a "by-product" harvested by Yan Jianbing's team in their research on maize genetic improvement. "The special corn database is a strategic resource for corn research, and we must do it ourselves." Upon returning to China in 2010, Yan Jianbing decided to lead a team to build a "database" while doing breeding research.

　　 Create a "search engine" for corn multi-omics data

　　 In fact, before ZEAMAP went international, Chinese scientists were already using it for various researches. Professor Chu Zhaohui of Shandong Agricultural University used the ZEAMAP database to conduct big data mining and found a key gene resistant to corn sheath blight; Professor Qin Feng of China Agricultural University used the ZEAMAP database to publish a series of results on corn drought resistance... "Actually The amount of information in this database is still very large. As long as you are willing to dig it, you can benefit from it." Yan Jianbing emphasized to reporters that the database can become an important tool for corn breeding researchers.

Liu Bin, a professor at Huazhong Agricultural University, made an international comparison of basic research on three major food crops. The results showed that China's maize research has advanced by leaps and bounds in the past 10 years, especially in the past five years, the degree of activeness of China's maize research in publishing papers in high-quality journals Has ranked second in the world, second only to the United States. According to incomplete statistics, the data in the ZEAMAP database has been used by more than 60 laboratories at home and abroad, and more than 15,000 copies of the materials in the ZEAMAP database have been distributed. There are dozens of high-level articles published based on the database.

From the first edition to the current third edition of the ZEAMAP database, it breaks the "information islands" of maize breeding research in China in the past, and realizes the "cloud" integrated retrieval and analysis of maize multi-omics data; the ZEAMAP database successfully integrates genomes from the same maize population, Multi-omics data including transcriptome, phenotype, metabolome, epigenome, regulatory group, and genetic mapping results have been constructed to construct a comprehensive database of maize; in addition, the external interface is opened, and the genome "browser" and The "search engine" realizes high integration, fast retrieval and intelligent analysis of relevant omics data. Yan Jianbing firmly believes that if we continue to expand the database for another 10 or 20 years, as more scientists know and use it, more and more versatile corn will become a delicacy on the table.

　　The maize database has repeatedly made contributions in breeding

　　The oil content of natural corn is only 4%. In order to obtain high-oil corn, American breeding experts spent 100 years increasing this index to 20%; in the 1980s, Chinese breeding expert Song Tongming adopted new ideas for genetic improvement to obtain this result, which took only 8-10 years. . No one knows what the scientific principles are, and there is a great debate among experts.

　　 In 2013, Yan Jianbing's team used the ZEAMAP database to propose for the first time in the world that the accumulation of minor genes at the genome level is the genetic basis for the long-term improvement of oil content. This highly cited paper published in the journal Nature Genetics resolved this dispute among experts.

　　 Following this idea, Yan Jianbing's team once again used the ZEAMAP database to increase the vitamin E of sweet corn by more than 17%, up to 2.5 times. This achievement is the first to be transformed in Guangdong. At present, high-dimensional E sweet corn varieties dominate half of Guangdong's sweet corn and occupy 20% of the national sweet corn market. This achievement won the second prize of the 2016 National Science and Technology Invention Award.

　　 Yan Jianbing also participated in a "bio-enhancement" project to prevent night blindness in children by selecting new corn varieties rich in vitamin A sources. The ZEAMAP database has once again contributed to the selection of high-vitamin A source germplasm materials to increase the vitamin A in corn to 8 micrograms/g.